Beltway Blog — Nine Coloradans give Stephen Colbert Super PAC money

WASHINGTON — Nine Coloradans from Denver, Carbondale, Cherry Hills and Boulder gave more than $200 to comedian Stephen Colbert[1]’s satirical “super PAC”, according to campaign filings released Tuesday.

Colbert’s super PAC, called Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, raised $1 million in 2011. Coloradans who listed professions as engineers, sales, and banking gave $2,531.49 collectively. In Colorado, the highest donor, Douglas Beekman from Denver, gave $500. Most other contributions were $250 or $300. Donors who give less than $200 do not have to be reported.

None of the Colorado names listed appear to be satirical, though Colbert told fans yesterday that some of the contributor names listed on the filings were clearly not real names.

Colbert has been protesting the wild west nature of campaign finance after a U.S. Supreme Court decision two years ago that allows corportations, unions and individuals to give unlimited amounts of money to groups that oppose or support candidates. Colbert has spoke out against this both on his show and in a testimony [2]to the Federal Election Commission last summer. In his cover letter to the FEC, he said “I’m rolling seven digits deep.”

Political Action Committees are supposed to report campaign contribution filings by midnight tonight. So-called “Super PACs” have proliferated in the past two years since the January 2010 “Citizens United” decision. It is illegal for Super PACS to coordinate with individual campaigns.